Texans, including Houstonians, aren’t shying away from big spending on infrastructure projects. During the November midterm elections voters in Texas approved more than $35 billion of borrowing for infrastructure projects, according to an analysis by the Houston Chronicle.
Locally, voters in Harris, Montgomery and Brazoria counties approved more than $3 billion for projects. In Harris County, the spending includes city and county bond packages, school districts and municipal utility districts. Here’s a look at some of those projects:
- Harris County Proposition A – Up to $100 million in investments to support public safety facilities and technology, including law enforcement facilities, additional courtrooms, and improved data systems for court management and crime prevention.
- Harris County Proposition B – Up to $900 million in investments for things like road rehabilitation and added capacity; neighborhood drainage improvement; and walking, biking and mass transit access.
- Harris County Proposition C – Up to $200 million in new construction and/or maintenance of park facilities and trails.
- The City of Houston had a total of seven bond proposals totaling $478 million. Most of the funds, $227 million, will go toward public safety without increasing property taxes.
- Several municipal utility districts across Harris County issued bonds for water, sewer and drainage system improvements.
- The proposals approved in Brazoria and Montgomery counties all focused on municipal utility district projects, including building new schools, refunding for road and stormwater bonds and interest on parks and recreational facilities bonds.
“I’m not shocked that Texas is having to spend a lot of money,” John Diamond, director of the Center for Public Finance at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, told the Houston Chronicle. “There is a huge fixed cost to having to spend money to improve your infrastructure to support a larger population, but those investments last for 20-to-30 years.”